Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Stunning
a must read from Poe. Ive heard many people call it boring but the writing is beautiful and paints the most vivid, horrifying image as you read it. The only story ive honestly been scared with while reading.

Boring short story
The language is flowery and archaic words are used throughout the story's entirety. The story is suppose to be suspenseful, but isn't. Nor is it scary at all.

Free SF Reader
A Horror Fiction Story

Blame Wodewick.


4 out of 5 ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Stories, Disappointing Book
As a word of warning to potential buyers, Canterbury Classics such as the Edgar Allan Poe book are not shrink wrapped by the manufacturer. Since they travel from China then to warehouses and finally to buyers, it is a good bet the gold edges will be scratched. The manufacturer also places labels on the leather covers.The entire stories and poems are included in the text but the print is so small and light it is not easy to read them. The quality is not high, but then you're only paying $13.48.

Completely Poe
I've always had a liking for Edgar Allan Poe, with his tales of horror, mystery and suspense, done in the atmospheric prose of a master writer. Since I live close enough, I've even made some trips to his gravesite, a place that is always surrounded by a sense of sadness.

Poe was a tormented genius who died young, under mysterious circumstances, and at the time of his death he wasn't deservingly popular. Certainly his work was not cute romances for the masses -- he explored the darkness of the human heart, love, satire, and the earliest whodunnit stories. And "Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" brings together all of his poetry and writings in one book.

Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which tend to be rather weird -- a treasure-hunt and a golden insect, a ship caught in a whirlpool, a hypnotized man talks about the universe, and stories of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. There is also his trilogy of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime.

Most people know about "The Raven" (which even has the Baltimore Ravens named after it) but Poe actually wrote a lot of poetry, most of which readers never heard of. Sometimes dark, or whimsical, or even both. "By a route obscure and lonely/Haunted by ill angels only/Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT/On a black throne reigns upright..."

And, of course, the horror. This is what Poe is best known for, including such well-known stories as "The Fall Of The House Of Usher." But there are also lesser-known gems -- tales of a plague invading a party, being buried alive, a portrait that siphoned the life out of its subject, and a nightly visit to an Italian crypt leading to madness.

Don't read "Complete Stories and Poems" all at once. It's too intense. It's better to soak it in a little at a time, so that you can get a better feel for the different kinds of writing that Poe did, and how he excelled at pretty much everything he put down on paper. Most great writers can't boast of that much.

Poe's writing is what makes even his least story or poem come alive -- he brought a gothic, misty vibrancy to his stories, and could make his quiet dialogue seem utterly chilling (" "I have no name in the regions which I inhabit. I was mortal, but am fiend..."). It's not hard to see why he was an influence on authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Franz Kafka.

"Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" is a must-have for anyone with an appreciation for great literature and beautiful, dark writing. ... Read more

Product Description
The life of Edgar Allan Poe was characterized by a dramatic series of successes and failures, breakdowns and recoveries, personal gains and dashed hopes, despite which he created some of the finest literature the world has ever known. Poe perfected the psychological thriller, invented the detective story, and rarely missed transporting the reader to his own supernatural realm. Here, fans may indulge in all 73 of Poe's most imaginative short-stories, including:''The Fall of the House of Usher,'' ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue,'' ''The Tell-Tale Heart,'' ''Ligeia'' and ''Ms. In a Bottle.'' All of his 48 poetic masterpieces are also here, including ''The Raven,'' ''Ulalume'' ''Annabel Lee,'' and ''Tamerlane,'' as well as select reviews and narratives. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

mystery
I have not been able to read all of the material yet, but I find his works mysterious and chilling. The book was delivered in a timely matter. The product was exceptional.

Great Tales like Old Wine Just Get Better and Better
Edgar A. Poe -- he never used Allan -- yet we do, is one of a
America's greatest writers. Time has only added to his reputation.

This volume collects most but not all of his tales and most of his poems as well. Congrats to those who collaborated with the editor who offers us this cornucopia. Some entries are apparently published here for the first time.

The editor's carefully written essay is revealing and helps prepare us for the feast ahead. But then we are left alone to discover Poe for ourselves. We are not spoonfed with endless commentary. Thus this volume is a great contribution on many levels.

Poe has influenced writers in many countries with his dark but always gripping stories and his lyrical poems. Argentine Jorge Borges paid him hommage many a time. I am sure Stephen King has as well.

All the great stories that scared us as youngsters are here: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit And the Pendulum, The Cask of Amantillado, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, and on and on. It is a joy to read them as a adult. After all we already know the ending and thus are not as terrified and can enjoy the story as it unravels.These tales also provide us an insight to life that perhaps we did not appreciate or comprehend as children.

So although I commend this volume to those who read Poe before, for you will enjoy the content even more than before. I hope a whole newgeneration of youngsters and those not so young will be introduced to this American Master.

A nice collection of tales and poems.
Overall I enjoyed this product. I have been looking for some time for a complete collection of Edgar Allen Poe. Can't beat the price either. This book features all of his stories and poems. The only draw back was that I was really looking for this kind of collection in hard back, and I would have liked a book with notes on his stories. Don't get me wrong though, I am enjoying this book a lot.

"The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Why only four stars you may ask, Well it has nothing to do with Poe A great Writer (Even though he can be a little Droll at times) it has to do with The Book it's self i'll explain.

My First Problem was the Type. The Type was very small. im young (15, although i was 14 while reading this) so it's fine for me but to someone whos older or someone who needs glasses to read) it may be harder to read.

My Second Problem was The Margins: The problem with the Margins were the hardly were any towards the spine of the book They were around maybe a Half an inch (Maybe smaller i didint measure them) this did not help reading it at all with the type face so small.

My Third and final problem was. That although there were (as it stated) a Generous Samplaning of His essays only two of them were clearly labled These were "The Poetic Principle" and "The Rational of Verse"

But there are good things about them one thing being for sixteen dollars your getting a book that can take a little ware and tear

In the end i would recomend this book if you want to take it maybe travling but not to Keep forever If you love Poe (As many do) and want to read his Complete Tales, Poems and Esays (Includeing his novel (which is in this book) and Essay Eureka A prose poem (which is not in this preticular copy) then i would recomend spending the extra money and geting The Complete tales and Poems and Essays Reviews etc from the publisher Library of America (These are a little expensive but they will last you a Long time and give you a Enjoyable Experince)

Great Compilation
"Complete Tales and Poems" of Edgar Allen Poe is a great compilation of Poe's works, spanning pieces such as poems and tales.

Poe's writings have a certain timeless quality and this publication offers a good "one stop shop" for Poe readers.This is an entertaining, thought-provoking and worthwhile book...highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classic™ includes a glossary and reader’s notes to help the modern reader contend with Poe’s allusions and complicated vocabulary.

Edgar Allan Poe—his name conjures up thoughts of hearts beating long after their owners are dead, of disease and plague amid wealth, of love that extends beyond the grave, and of black ravens who utter only one word. The richness of Poe’s writing, however, includes much more than horror, loss, and death.

Alive with hypnotic sounds and mesmerizing rhythms, his poetry captures both the splendor and devastation of love, life, and death. His stories teem with irony and black humor, in addition to plot twists and surprise endings. Living by their own rules and charged with passion, Poe’s characters are instantly recognizable—even though we may be appalled by their actions, we understand their motivations.

The thirty-three selections in The Best of Poe highlight his unique qualities. Discover for yourself the mysterious allure and genius of Edgar Allan Poe, who remains one of America’s most popular and important authors, even more than 150 years after his death. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Classic!
Poe is one of my favorites.I have much of The Tell-Tale Heart committed to memory.The Raven is another that sticks with me.There are few authors that have written in his style.One that comes to mind is R.A. Knowlton in one of his short stories about the painting Guernica by Picasso.

This collection of writings of Poe is a must read!
... Read more

Product Description

Strap into your straitjacket and fasten it tight, for within these pages are stories of lost love, lost ways...and lost minds. A companion to Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness, this second installment of perennial Poe favorites includes The Tell-Tale Heart, The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether, The Oblong Box, and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. While the original stories have been neatly nipped and tucked, the dread, the gore, and the horror still reaches otherworldly heights thanks to Gris Grimly's spine-chilling visuals. Open the book...

if you dare ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A must have!!
Who doesn't love Poe? Who doesn't love Gris Grimly? Put them together and wow! what a combo!!! I had the pleasure of meeting Gris Grimly at a book signing for one of his very rare East Coast appearances. I just really love his style of art, so when I found out about this book coming out, I immediately knew I had to purchase it. You won't be disappointed.

Just in time for Halloween!
This book is great! It has beautiful and creepy illustrations on each page by Grimly along with Poe's writings. It's a good book to read with school age children for the Halloween season or for teenagers and up who will appreciate the cheeky accompanying artwork. Very cute in a creepy way! ... Read more

Product Description
Under-appreciated in his own time, Poe's unique genius for exploring the darker corridors of the human imagination raised nightmares to the level of art. This collection includes poetry and prose, including "The Conqueror Worm", "The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", and "The Pit and the Pendulum". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Amazing
I (heart) Poe!!! Years ago I stumbled on this unabridged Edgar Allan Poe. Got it for my birthday a few months later, and it went with me everywhere, even to summer camp! The only bad thing is, the copy I had, the paperback edition, well, the binding DID NOT hold up. It is impossible to expect a paper binding to hold together nearly 1200 pages of the macarbe. So, long story short, my formerly sinlge volume paperback copy is now in 4 volumes. I made the mistake of buying "the complete tales and poems of E.A. Poe" that was published by B&N, it is not anywhere near complete, and the order of that book drives me crazy. I eneded up leaving that copy on the shelf to look prettier and reading my old beater copy instead.

So, in short,
DON'T get the paperback copy, you will be sad.
DO the Running Presses hardback copy.
DON'T get the "complete" thing from B&N, again, you will be sad.
AND chronological order ROCKS

If you only buy one collection....
--This is THE best and most complete collection of Poe's work you will find anywhere. Not only is it everything he's published in the order it was published, it also includes the first versions of works he later altered and otherwise removed passages from. There are rare pieces here that I've been unable to find anywhere else. I challenge you to find "Lines on Ale" or a complete version of Poe's play "Politan" in any other "Complete" collection of his work.Poe often included phrases in other languages in his stories and they are all translated here in brackets. Easy to read print and a pleasure to hold. (Plus, the new gold-leaf is fun to crack when you first open it.)
--If I have to say anything negative about this, it's the illustrations (which is quite trivial, really) which appear one to the beginning of each story. They seem to be inked in ball-point pen and the artist doesn't quite have a knack for figure drawing. Other than that, the only other gripe is that the picture heading off his most famous murder mystery, depicts the murder in-progress. But again, it's trivial.
--Overall, it is the definitive collection of Poe's work to own, bound in a handsome volume for a lifetime of reading.

Poe is great but this book isn't
When I received this book, its pages stuck together and it was damaged. The "leather" doesn't even look or feel like leather. There's gold tint on the outside of the pages, and the gold rubs off on your hands and clothes when you're reading the book.

The best Edgar Allan Poe book ever!
This is the litmus test that all other Poe books are measured by. This book has ALL of Poe's poems,stories, mysteries ect. all in chronological order, so you can see before your very eyes, the development of a pure genius. With his early writings you can see exactly how his path takes him from POEtry (the true art form, Poe's own words) to the more popular short story of his time (more profitable at the time). The stories and poems go from the popular (The Raven) to the obscure (Lines on Ale). He even shows you a side of himself that the majority of people never knew existed in his scathing reviews of other author's work. This book is not for the wishy-washy reader who is interested in nothing more than to produce a book report. It's for the bare knuckles,in from the rain, out of the storm, hide the kids, take the phone off the hook and turn out the lights because I wanna read until my hair stands on end, and I want my mommy cause I outta my mind with horror, kind of reader. It's bursting with many different types of stories and reflections. I absolutely loved this book and constantly find myself finding new parts of the book that I haven't read yet. It's easy to lose yourself in this book (over 1100 pages) and never have to worry again about missing another Poe story for the rest of your sleepless nights. Don't be mistaken about this book, if you don't have it, you haven't really read Poe. Quoth the Raven "Nevermore"!

You will be hooked in seconds
Edgar Allan Poe's storys and poems are one that will scare you, thrive and grab your attention within seconds of reading. The best one i think is the Raven I started to read and i couldnt put the book back down. ... Read more

Product Description
Nevermore brings one of America’s most enigmatic writers to the attention of a new generation of children. This intriguing photobiography examines the life and times of the author and poet who would have a huge influence on future generations of writers, poets, artists, and even songwriters.

Poe pioneered the psychological horror story, the detective story, and the emerging genre of science fiction. Through his dark tales and unforgettable verse, as well as his literary criticism, he made major contributions to the development of the modern short story and modern poetry in America. Thanks to the translations of the French writer Charles Baudelaire, Poe also gained a wide audience throughout Europe. His work influenced not only writers, but also avant-garde artists, who saw in him a kindred soul.

Karen Lange’s gripping narrative combines with the book’s vivid illustrations of Poe’s various haunts to create an atmospheric account of America’s most famous Romantic writer. The story shifts from his birth in Boston to Richmond, from Hampton Roads to Philadelphia, from New York City to his mysterious death in Baltimore. Nevermore is a rich appreciation of an American master, whose macabre tales of mystery took shape in tandem with his own strange and ultimately tragic life story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very well done
Although the targeted reading age for this book is 9-12 this photo-biography is so very well done (National Geographic Press) that it is a very good read for adults as well.Using graphics of Poe's own handwriting, photos of himself and places he lived, the text and the visuals compliment each other and are very effective in presenting the story.The author really summarizes Poe's life, talents and problems in a very fair and complete way: having read some extensive biographies of Poe I was surprised how well she summed Poe up in a readable and complete way without getting lost in details but still covering all the important points.Really very well done for any age above 9.

If tales like the Premature Burial scared you half to death when you were a youngster you'll love this photobiography!
Edgar Allan Poe's parents were actors in a day and age when the profession was not particularly well respected and a "boo" was not uncommon.Edgar's siblings, Henry and Rosalie were abandoned by their alcoholic father and when their young, tubercular mother died at the tender age of twenty-four they were tossed to the winds.Two-year-old Edgar was "taken in by Frances Allan," but never adopted, though lived a life of privilege. The only thing he had left of his family was a small portrait of his mother.

Poe was a good student, but things did not bode well for him.He had a falling out with his wealthy foster father, John Allan,and without money he soon fell into debt and began to gamble.He ran off to Boston and began to write poetry. Still impoverished he enlisted in the army under a fictitious name and oddly enough, rose quickly in the ranks.Later, after another, but final falling out with his foster father he became dependent on other family members.He began to write and it started to pay off.The money he made was meager and he "joined forces with English author and activist Charles Dickens to argue that writers should be paid more for their works."He began to write suspenseful tales that tapped into "readers' anxieties."Yet, despite his success he still couldn't pay his bills.He started to binge drink.What would become of him?

If you are a Poe fan, you're going to love this book.The writing had a nice conversational style and quickly drew me through the book.The photographs, appropriately, are in darker tones.In the back of the book is a chronology of Poe's life and additional recommended book, article and web site resources. Also included is a listing of places you can visit.Although several of his works are cited, there is no listing of Poe's literary works.If tales like the Premature Burial scared you half to death when you were a youngster you'll love this photobiography!

Ms Lange does it again!
Karen Lange's new addition to the bicentennial Poe fever is titled "Nevermore", after the poem "The Raven" which Poe was called upon to recite in nearly every public appearance he ever made.Her treatment of the author's life is, like her book on Jamestown, geared toward young adults, but does not soft pedal his failings or his psychological basis.The story is a fascinating one, right out of the 19th century: full of pathos and family tragedy, with a full treatment of what it is that made Edgar Allan Poe the quintessential Gothic master of fiction and poetry.My only complaint with the book is that Ms Lange neglected to give him his due in one critical area: his development of the perfected short story.If you doubt this, read "The Minister's Black Veil" by his contemporary Nathanial Hawthorne (a more typical horror story of the period).Now, compare this to "The Cask of Amontillado".Poe was a great admirer of Hawthorne, but clearly learned from his "mistakes".As with Blackwood, Machen and Lovecraft who followed, Poe was a true master of the weird and gruesome.Unlike them, however, he was the first, the Creator of proto-horror.He did the same for science fiction and the detective story."Nevermore" digs deep into the sorrowful life of this man, the rejection of his adopted father, the protracted death of his child bride, his family's abject poverty and his creative struggle.The reader is amazed , in fact, why the world didn't kill him off sooner.The unasked question at the end in this, the 200th anniversary of his birth, is this:would we have his superb poetry and blood-curdling fiction if he'd had a happy life as a government clerk, with rosy-cheeked wife and children?Ms Lange's handling of Poe's fascinating story (with excellent graphics and photography) is well worth the purchase price. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great, Easy to understand
I love Edgar Allan Poe, but i found that most of his stories and poems are harder to understand because of the time period. So i bought this book hoping to get the full message...And i did its got slightly bigger print, Vocabulary at the bottom like a school book...In fact this was the version we used in our high school and it was great. It has a nice front cover a crows shadow and a haunted house in a storm its really neat... Poe being a gothic writer makes his writing more dark. He writes about the death and maddness. This great book by Nextext include the following Edgar Allan Poe stories/poems:

Stories:

"A shorty poe biography"

"The pit and the Pendulum"

"The Masque of the Red Death"

"The Fall of the House of Usher"

"The Tell-Tale Heart"

"The Cask of Amontillado"

"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"

"The Purloined Letter"

Poems:

"Annabel Lee"

"To Helen"

"The Raven"

So in conclusion this book is really good for students, adults,or anyone looking for a gothic story collection ... Read more

Product Description
Locked doors, bricked-up alcoves and premature burial close in on Poe's narrators as they, like their victims, are cut off from light, air and human society. The "disordered chambers" of the author's mind resonate with archetypal, if extreme, psychological states; these 46 tales also present the incurable hoaxer and teller of excessively tall tales, a master of this difficult genre.Amazon.com Review
Award-winning fantasy illustrator Gary Kelley writes, "Ihave selected three of Edgar Allan Poe's best short stories.... Ichose 'The Fall of the House of Usher' for its classic Gothic imagesand its dark, melancholic central characters, including the houseitself. 'The Black Cat' is ... appealing to me for its use of mysteryand foreboding that takes us to a horrifying climax. 'The Cask ofAmontillado' ... my personal favorite, [is] a simple narrative ofrevenge set in the contrasting worlds of carnival and catacomb." Click on the book's cover for a closer look, but the reproduction doesn't really do justice to the richness of color in Kelley's shadowy, atmospheric paintings. (The cat's eye is green, and its tongue is pink.) This gorgeous edition has 20 full- and double-page paintings, including a melancholy portrait of Poe; each page of text is surrounded by subtle decorative frames. The images of Roderick and Madeleine Usher are especially effective. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great illustrations but poor reading typography
It's an expensive book with only THREE stories from the whole of Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination. From the title and reviews I thought I'm getting the whole book, with illustrations only for three of the stories. That aside, the illustrations are great! Unfortunately, the reading text is also set in the ornate typography used for the title. While it works very well used as display typography - for titles, chapter headings, etc., this typeface is very unsuitable for reading as text. The book jacket is also slightly yellow around the edges, with a bit of the lamination peeling off. (Guess it's a very old stock. I've got a replacement from Amazon and both books are the same.)

Here is where greatness lies!
I had read some of Mr. Poe's tales at different times during the course of my life, but I had never before sat down to read all of his most important ones before I picked up this book. I found this an incredible thing to do, because I was faced with the genius that was Poe.Most of us know that he was the father of the short story genre, and that many famous authors (not the least of which were Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie) tried to follow in his footsteps.This is an almost impossible task because the genius of Poe was his poet's nature which allowed him to write very beautiful prose too.He also had the gift of mixing his impalpable shadows of mystery which run through all his tales with an almost obsessive attention to detail.This brought his stories to life when he wrote them, and this power still brings them to life today.It is difficult to pick a favourite tale out of so many gems, but I'd have to go with "The Black Cat", I think.In this tale Poe's protagonist allows a very intimate glimpse of the darkest recesses of his souls, and we descend into madness with him.This is an eerily beautiful world here and not for the faint of heart.

E. A. Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination
Having never read Edgar Allen Poe I was quite pleased with his writing.One of my favorite stories out of the plethera of choices was the Gold Bug.At first I was relucant to continue with the book.It was going slow and was hard to interpret.Then in the middle of the story it picked up pace and had some mystery and magic in it.I became fixed with reading it and figuring out how they found the treasure and how it was all possible.The process of the way the treasure was found was fantastic.This book has many of Poe's greatest writings.And that is what made it great.You didn't ahve to get a lot of books to read many of his stories, you could simply just get one and read many.This book contained many great short stories.It is a must read.

One of the greatest books ever written!!
I read this book about a year ago and loved it. I'm the type of person who reads before they go to sleep and I had to put this book down because it was so frightening. I loved the way Poe drew me into the story and kept me begging for more. I was always curious to know what happened next, even if I was terrified. My favorite of all the stories was the "Cask of Amontillado". It was so creative how you became almost like a part of the story.

Truly a masterpiece! Full of horror and graphic imagination.
I felt chilled reading this collection of Poe's all time best stories.I especially loved the eerieness of The Cask of Amontialldo and the insanity of the narrator in the The Balck Cat, all so frightly believable.The illustrations top it off by adding a magical touch of frightful imagery to the collection. ... Read more

Product Description

(Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Edgar Allan Poe’s gift for the macabre–his genius in finding the strangeness lurking at the heart of things–was so extraordinary that he exerted a major influence on Baudelaire and French symbolism, on Freudian analysis, and also on the detective novel and the Hollywood movie. His psychologically profound stories of encounters with the marvelous, the uncanny, and the dreadful represent–in contrast to the optimism of writers like Emerson and Whitman–the other, darker side of the nineteenth-century American sensibility.

Customer Reviews (7)

Poe
This edition is beautiful. It turned out to be way bigger than I thought and was pleasantly surprised. It's a gorgeous book to put on display; with gold rimmed pages and artwork throughout. Love it!

A fantastic writer and a beautiful edition!
I know that this writer is not for everyone. My wife, for example, does not like his writing at all. "Too dark for me" she says. I, however, must appreciate the ability Poe had to describe the baseness of the human soul in mysterious and gothic stories. I love his writing! And this edition is stunning. It's all the Poe that you'll ever need!

Gold bugs, plagues and more
Poe was a tormented genius who died young, under mysterious circumstances, and at the time of his death he wasn't deservingly popular. Certainly his work was not cute fluff for the masses -- he explored the darkness of the human heart, love, death, and the earliest whodunnit stories.

"The Complete Stories" brings together (in the gorgeous Everyman's series) all of Poe's stories of horror, mystery and suspense, done in the atmospheric prose of a master writer.

Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which tend to be rather weird -- a treasure-hunt and a golden insect, a ship caught in a whirlpool, a hypnotized man talks about the universe, and stories of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty.

Among the more striking are "Maseque of the Red Death," where a sealed castle is invaded by a plague, and "Tell Tale Heart," about the horror of hidden guilt. There is also his trilogy of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime.

And, of course, the horror. This is what Poe is best known for, including such well-known stories as "The Fall Of The House Of Usher." But there are also lesser-known gems -- tales of a plague invading a party, being buried alive, a portrait that siphoned the life out of its subject, and a nightly visit to an Italian crypt leading to madness.

It's not a good idea to read "Complete Stories" all at once -- it's too intense, too overwhelming. Rather, read it one story at a time, and let it sink in, so that you can get a better feel for the different kinds of writing that Poe did, and how he excelled at pretty much everything he put down on paper. Most great writers can't boast of that much.

Poe's writing is absolutely brilliant -- it makes the most minor story come alive. His style brings a gothic, misty vibrancy to the stories, and used startlingly quiet dialogue ("I have no name in the regions which I inhabit. I was mortal, but am fiend..."). It's not hard to see why he was an influence on authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Franz Kafka.

Poe's "Complete Stories" is a must-have for anyone with an appreciation for great literature, exquisite writing, and the dark recesses of the soul.

All The Poe That's Fit To Print; A Collector's Dream
First impressions count, and this book is extremely attractive.The attractiveness of the printed page completes the "premium" feel of this edition.If you plan to have the book on your bookshelf for many years to come, pulling it out to re-read a familiar story, or read an obscure one for the first time, you will appreciate this bibliophile edition.Here I will consider one representative of each type of story: a familar story, an obscure one, and a poem.

"Murders on the Rue Morgue" is a typically brief story of some thirty-two pages.It involves protagonists who have a dark side, and who are quite fond of the dark."The sable divinity [night] would not herself dwell with us always; but we could counterfeit her presence.At the first dawn of the morning we closed all the massy shutters of our old building; lighted a couple of tapers which, stongly perfumed, threw out only the gastliest and feeblest of rays."And these are the good guys.The bad guy has "...an agility astounding, a strength superhuman, a ferocity brutal, a butchery without motive, a grotesquerie in horror absolutely alien from humanity, and a voice foreign in tone to the ears of men of many nations..."It is a crime story solved through clairvoyant analysis.

"The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" is a lesser known story of some sixty pages, comprising three disasters at sea, consecutively befalling the same narrator.They are horrific events, initially terrifying, but becoming less so as the author passes over the boundary of science fiction, where our affinity for the protagonist is severed.While this story is extremely entertaining, Poe intentionally left it unfinished, and it is disappointing to never learn how the survivor returned to civilization to tell his tale.

"The Raven" is a deliciously nihilistic poem, in which the sole word spoken by the bird dashes the narrator's romantic dreams of becoming reunited with his life's sole love in a heavenly afterlife.The bird's view is that the soul dies with the body and that the human spirit is snuffed out with death.You may view the raven as the devil if you like, or simply a provocative existentialist; your enjoyment of the poem will not suffer.This poem is evocative of themes developed by the alchemist poet, Omar Khayyam (see my review); if you like one, you'll like the other.

Buy this book for its heirloom feel, and pass it on when you have sloughed your own mortal coil.

Good Value
Nice looking edition for the price.Will look good on your shelf, but anyone really looking to get into Poe will be better served with an edition that has some footnotes.Poe's heavy use of French and Latin had me running to Google to figure things out. ... Read more

Product Description
"From the best of his comic and satiric works to the best of his Gothic works . . . a remarkable literary achievement--perhaps one of the most remarkable of the nineteenth century."--G. R. Thompson, from the Introduction ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe
He is one of the best poet to ever live he's inspiered me!

A solid Poe collection
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the undisputed giants of United States literature--indeed, of all world literature. And "Great Short Works of Edgar Allan Poe," edited by G.R. Thompson, is a solid sampling of some of Poe's most marvelous literary achievements. The editor's selection allows the reader to experience the many different facets of this genius: Poe as poet, as critic, as mystery writer, as science fiction pioneer, as satirist, and, of course, as seminal master of horror.

Of course, no selective presentation of Poe will please everybody. I'm sure that most Poe enthusiasts will bemoan the absence of a favorite piece from this collection. Personally, I missed "The Gold-Bug," one of the stories that most impacted me as a young reader many years ago. But Thompson has packed a diverse cross-section of great material into a fairly compact space. You'll find such essential triumphs as "the Raven," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."

This edition includes both a good bibliography and a chronology of Poe's life. "Great Short Works" is a good resource for both the general reader and for classroom use.

A great taste of Edgar Allen Poe's finest
I want to make this short and simple.If you want a good feeling for what Poe has to offer you should read this book.

Poe has the neatest writing style.
I love this book.I like being able to sit down for a few minutes and get through a whole story.

Some of the stories I liked the most were: A Descent Into the Maelstrom. The Masque of the Red Death. The Black Cat. ThePremature Burial. Some Words with a Mummy. The Cask of Amontillado.Shadow-A Parable. Silence-A Fable.

These are just a few of the tales, andnone of the poems.One thing I noticed is that some of Poe's tales havethe same basic idea to them.They've just been written a little different. Like a couple of them have the give himself away at the end because hethinks people can hear the heart of the dead person beating.There's a fewother similarities between stories too, but you'll just have to read themto find out.

A Descent Into the Maelstrom was very good.Poe did a greatjob describing the "situation".As he did on Silence-A Fabletoo.

If you like Poe, this is a great summary of his works.

Read it in aBookstop
This was the best collection and critique I have read on Poe it was easyto read and a great subject for debate as are many of his works.If youhaven't bought this book BUY IT. ... Read more

Product Description
Every short story and poem of Edgar Allan Poe collected in this affordable volume! With working TOC. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

quite disapointed
I purchased this version of all the books of Poes work because it was one of the few to have stories and poems, as well as a working table of contents. It has no table of contents, let alone a working one. The font is strange and the line notations are distracting.I hope there is a better version somewhere. ... Read more

Product Description
The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe: A Kaplan SAT Score-Raising Classic features:

*A collection of Poe's most popular short stories

*More than 700 vocabulary words frequently tested on the SAT highlighted throughout the text

*Definitions for each highlighted word on the facing page

*A word-pronunciation guide

*An index for easy reference ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

TOO GLoooooooooooooMY
For general, i liked this book. Yet, every single short stories
ended with a death and it really disturbed me a lot. If this were
not required for my summer project, i wuld not have read it.

Still, it certainly helped me in reminding the SAT vocabularies.

Fantastic novel if you want to learn SAT words or you love Poe
Kaplan has created a few books that help with the development of learning SAT vocabulary. This book, which has many of the well-known Edgar Allan Poe stories, does likewise, defining over seven hundred vocabulary words on the opposite page or in the glossary. The neat aspect of this book is that it not only defines the various difficult words on the opposite page, but also puts the words in bold in the text and underlines them. On the opposite page the words appear with a definition, a pronunciation key, and a few examples of synonyms. Students who find the vocabulary difficult in a Poe story can readily access this, and it makes comprehension that much easier.

The most important part, however, is the just the thrill of being able to read many of Poe's chilling classic stories in this format. Many of the stories that students read in grade school and high school are included such as "The Tell Tale Heart", "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Pit and the Pendulum", and also a few of the lesser-known titles, such as "Hop Frog", "The Black Cat", and William Wilson."

The book itself is easy to carry around and has easy to read font which makes it a great buy. The stories are fantastic and the neat essence of this book is that you can read and learn vocabulary at the same time. Exceptional book!

very creative way to SAT study
excellent purchase; very helpful; an interesting approach to vocabulary and great literature.

Great way to study for the SAT
I loved reading this book and it was so much more fun to study SAT vocab words this way than by using flashcards.I told my friends about it so they could use it too.There are so many SAT words in the book and it's fun and easy to learn them. ... Read more

Product Description
Famous for his horror stories and brooding poetry, Poe is often considered to be the inventor of the modern detective story, as well. Now, this one marvelously illustrated and popularly priced volume makes it possible to appreciate the full genius of this master of the mysterious and brilliant literary talent. Images, reproduced from a variety of sources (including Aubrey Beardsley, Edouard Manet, and Arthur Rackham) enhance the mood of such favorites as The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Purloined Letter, A Descent into the Maelström and The Masque of the Red Death.In addition to those "Tales of Mystery and Imagination"--70 chronicles of terror and fantasy that established Poe as the supreme craftsman of the short story--there is The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, Poe's only full-length work and a masterful blending of science and romance. Finally, a section devoted to "The Raven and Other Poems" reflects Poe's obsession with the macabre.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Low quality
This review is, of course, for the publishing and other aspects of the book.Poe's work stands for itself.

I had two complaints, and felt they were sufficient to justify returning the book.The paper is thin, of low quality, and the binding also seems weak.The illustrations are terrible.There may be a few that are good, but not of the dozen or so I looked carefully at.As a class, they are amateurish and meaninglessly caricaturized so that they add nothing to the story.In one case, the picture revealed information that had not yet been made clear in the story, but was only found after turning the illustration over (The Oblong Box, and the fact of the box's contents).

Perhaps for the price this should have been expected, but it stands. ... Read more

Product Description
"The most original genius that America has produced." —Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Edgar Allan Poe was a writer of uncommon talent; in The Murders in the Rue Morgue he created the genre of detective fiction while his genius for finding the strangeness lurking within us all has been an influence on everyone from Freud to Hollywood. This complete collection of all his short stories and novellas contains well-known tales 'The Pit and the Pendulum' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart' alongside hidden gems that both unsettle and enthrall the reader. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Nice book of a single short story
I bought this illustrated edition of "The Fall of the House of Usher" when I was going to school at Rutgers College in New Jersey back when it was originally released, and I should point out that it only contains that particular short story.The illustrations are good and evocative, and help to enhance the story.

The story itself, of course, is classic Poe and one of his most famous.It's a story about an aristocratic family and the events that befall them.It's a good example of why Poe, who was also a great poet, was such a master of the short story form.He uses the story to produce a build up of unrelenting dread, and the story doesn't let up until its conclusion.

Now, the main thing with this edition is that like any comic book, you are probably going to want to get a copy that's in decent shape.I'd say it's worth taking a chance on at most of the lower priced offerings (it's out of print).

Creepy fictional masterpieces of horror, poems and selected essays by the original Baltimore Raven superstar Edgar Allan Poe
Long before Alfred Hitchcock, Bram Stoker or Arthur Conan Doyle there was Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). Born to a Boston actress; married to 13 year old Virginia Clemm and tormented by the demons of the soul this American original is the most popular worldwide American author.
In this excellent Penguin collection the editors have collected his best short stories, poems and essays in a valuable volume.
Among the masterpieces are:
The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter featuring the pre-Sherlock Holmes detective skills of Auguste Dupin.
The Fall of the House of Usher in which a gothic mansion mirrors the madness, incest and horror within the soul of its demented owner.
The Pit and the Pendulum an unforgettable tale of the Spanish Inquisition where the suspense is almost tactile in its intensity.
The Masque of the Red Death in which Death is the unexpected visitor at a masqued ball.
The Gold Bug shows Poe's mathematical mind at work as a buried treasure is discovered.
In addition to other tales we find here such great poems as "The Raven"; "The Bells" and "Ligea".
A sample of Poe's literary essays are included. One essays deals with his review of the American theatre; another reviews Hawthorne's "Twice-Told Tales" and the best of the lot details the creative process the poet used to create his 108 line masterpiece "The Raven."
This is a fine edition which could be used in the classroom or for pleasure reading. Enjoy the outre world and lush writing of Edgar Allan Poe!

The TRUE king of Horror!
I got this book as a gift for my Birth Day. I loved Edgar Allan Poe, his writings, poetry, essays, everything. I first heard The Raven in my [...] class, than heard The Cask of Amontillado in my [...] class. I than fully fell-in-love with this Poet! I also went out and picked up Young Edgar Allan Poe, and read it, exploring his life from a small child in beautiful detail to his death. If you haven't read any of Edgar Allan Poe's writings yet, please do so. Now...
At first when you read some of his writings, you get washed away by the old-fashioned literature, to the insanity of his mind (which isn't so, mind you). I had to re-read The Masque of the Red Death twice before I fully comprehended just what happened. I relieved in the story: The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum, struggled through The Bells, read my heart out in The Raven, raced through The Tell-Tale Heart and read curiously at The Man of the Crowd. This is truly the king of horror and insanity at it's best! Drop Stephen King for just a little while and read Poe, you won't regret it!

Indispensible edition!! A fine collection.
I've found this particular edition of Poe's (albiet incomplete) collected works to be the best and most accurate blend possible of his short fiction, poetry, and most important prose. The annotations and background information are also extremely helpful unlike some works that do not translate the Latin, for example. MOST IMPORTANTLY I've found this work to contain the most perfect editions of his poetry, as opposed to other collected works I've owned that have unusual deviances, such as "monody compels" (this ed.) vs "melody compels" of another edition. This has indeed become a faithful companion and my particular copy has become well-worn! I would suggest obtaining as a supplement a seperate edition of Poe's complete short stories and possibly also an edition of his collected prose, although this volume contains his perhaps most important work "The American Drama" anyway. Cheers, hope this helps!

Delve into the mind of a madman!
This story was disjointed, abstract, distrubing and confusing to the point that it hurt my head... yet I want to read it again. Although I'm not sure I understood everthing that happened, you get so caught up in the the agony of the characters insanity, one must read on to try to make sense of it. This is a book that you will read over and over to try and understand and just when you think you've got it... you will have doubt enough to read it once again! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Poe's Tragic Life and Death
All books have a purpose, but this one stood out to me. It is veryinteresting and very informative about the lief and death of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. Poe had quite a few hard times in his life. Many family members and friends that were close to him passed on, his gaurdian neglected him, and problems in the world that he encountered only made things worse. His writing career didnt take off quickly either. He pushed himself to pursue his dreams. This book takes you through the good and bad times of his life. The Book Mystery and Terror, The Story of Edgar Allan Poe consists of high quality information ofhis story. I highly recommend this book to anyone of any age or fans of Poe of all ages. This would be a good book to use to gather infromation for project as well. This book is very interesting to me and I enjoyed learning about this dramatic and tragic life of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. Pick it up and Read it, you wont regret it!

Caitlyn L.

mystery and terror
the title of my book is mystery and terror by william schoell, the book is about the biography of edgar allan poe. this book was intended for the audience that like poetry and edgar allan poe. edgar's life story is so full of dramatic twists and turns. it seems the master of the macabre could have penned it himself. his father abanded his family when edgar was just a baby and his mother died befor he turned three years old. i would recommend this book to any one who likes poetry or likes edgar allan poe. he was a very succesful poet and story writer. so read it you just might like it even if you dont even know him.
donavan a

Edgar Allan Poe Review
this is a review of "Mystery and Terror: the story of Edgar Allan Poe". I believe that this was a really great book. it gave much information on Edgar Allan Poe. It tells his whole life story, including where and when he was born, how he grew up, and all the details of his life. It tells how he never really fit in as a child, and even into early adult-hood. Since he was a teenager, he has written horror stories and poems. I believe this book can give hope to many young people, because it tells all the trials he faced, and he still overcame them and became a famous writer.
Cindel B. ... Read more

Product Description
Five stories engagingly reveal Poe’s virtuoso gifts for both crime detection and the macabre. Two of his most famous tales, "The Mystery of Marie Roget" and "The Purloined Letter" introduce C. Auguste Dupin, the first fictional detective. "William Wilson" is a chilling tale of crime and evil. Also included: two tales of terror: "MS. Found in a Bottle" and "The Oblong Box."
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

convenient and well-priced (supliment advised)
This little Dover edition is cheap and fits easily into any bag, which makes it good bus stop reading.There is, however, a disadvantage to this portable Poe; namely, it's not all there.The collection excludes the story for which Poe is credited for having begun the detective genre itself: "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" introduces the characters of Dupin and our narrator, and prepares the scene for the detective figure to fill the gap of reasoning that the overly-methodical Parisian police have left.It sets the tone for the increased emphasis on analysis in "Marie Rogêt" and the humorous rivalry between police and detective in "The Purloined Letter."That being said, the other stories fit well together; "The Oblong Box" has one foot in the detective genre and the other in that species of psychological drama that we see in "William Wilson."Wilson and his doppelganger compliment the double corpse question in "Marie Rogêt," and the parallel worlds and coincidences, which make the mystery of Marie Rogêt more fascinating, lend an uncanny quality to "MS Found in a Bottle," with the discovery of Mercator's map.If these stories show us anything about Poe, it is his ability to bring a story to a logical conclusion that still leaves an eerie taste in the reader's mouth.

Another winner from the library of Poe...
As always Edgar Allan Poe has created a masterpiece with this work, just as he has done with all his others. He makes haunting, chilling, and tingling stories come to life like nightmares during the daytime.He was atrue master of suspense and storytelling and this work is no exception.Ifyou enjoyed any of his others, like The Tell-tale Heart or The Raven, thenyou'll be sure to enjoy these tales of terror and detection.

Classic short stories
Edgar allen poe is one of the greatest short story writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. His stories are varied and extremely intelligent. And at the cheap price this collection of stories are a must buy. I give it an extra star just for the price. ... Read more